Haitian refugee scaremongering.

[hay rick]

On Sunday, the headline story in our state's "paper of record", the Newark Star-Ledger, raised the specter of a "massive influx" of Haitian refugees. Story here: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/christie_new_jersey_braces_for.html

From the article:

"New Jersey is expecting a "surge" of refugees from the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti, which would create a humanitarian crisis and put new pressure on a state treasury already in peril, according to confidential documents obtained by The Star-Ledger...The report was prepared by members of the Christie administration in advance of a closed-door meeting tomorrow ...

The documents show the state is concerned that the number of Haitians could exceed the capacity of community groups and require state government to meet their medical, educational, housing and other needs.

By mid-February, the documents say, more commercial flights carrying Haitians holding U.S. visas are expected to arrive in the United States, and many of the refugees will be seeking to join relatives in New Jersey.

The documents gave no specific estimate of how many Haitians would come to New Jersey. But the potential seems clear. The state has the fourth-largest Haitian population in the country, with nearly 57,000 New Jersey residents born in Haiti or of Haitian ancestry. Most of them live in Essex and Union counties..."

Of course, the Christie administration refused to comment on the confidential-but-leaked documents.

I find it very strange- and sad, that this was considered lead-story-worthy by the NSL. It's little more than speculation about a worst-case scenario for a future event which may not even happen. The unquoted, apparently fatherless document, supplied no estimate of the number of refugees expected. My own back-of-the-envelope estimate of Haitians who 1) have relatives in New Jersey, 2) have visas, and 3) are able to obtain tickets on commercial flights out of Haiti is something between 12 and 10,000,000.

Maybe the Star-Ledger thinks they have to throw out some red meat for the anti-immigrant, anti-black crowd which also happens to be a reliable source of support for the new administration.